Numerous types of pressure sensitive adhesive tapes capable of connecting or joining two surfaces (e.g., adhering a sheet of paper onto a table top) are well known. For example, transparent tape of the type available from Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Company of St. Paul, Minn. under the trade designation Magic.RTM. brand is readily available from numerous retail outlets. Such pressure sensitive adhesive tapes, are generally available as a continuous roll of tape capable of being conveniently dispensed from any of a number of manually-operated roll-type tape dispensers, such as those disclosed in Walker et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,928,864 and Reinecke, U.S. Design Pat. No. 116,599, having a cutting edge located on the dispenser for cutting the tape into strips of the desired length. While effective for quickly and efficiently dispensing most pressure sensitive adhesive tapes, it is difficult to create tape strips of uniform length due to the natural variations in the length of tape unwound from the roll of adhesive tape between cuttings. Hence, such dispensers are not designed for those situations requiring the quick and efficient dispensing of uniform lengths of pressure sensitive adhesive tape.
It is also known to dispense pressure sensitive adhesive tape from a stacked pad of tape strips. Such pads of adhesive tape strips are disclosed in Emmel, U.S. Pat. No. 4,650,706, and Mertens, U.S. Pat. No. 4,895,746. Emmel discloses a stacked pad of adhesive tape strips wherein a first end portion of each individual strip is treated so as to provide a nonadhesive end tab. Mertens discloses a stacked pad of adhesive tape strips wherein a first end portion of each individual strip defines an area of reduced adhesion to an adjacent tape strip. The nonadhesive end tab or area of reduced adhesion facilitates initial separation of the first end of an uppermost tape strip from the first end of an immediately underlying tape strip, allowing the uppermost tape strip to be peeled off the pad. While generally effective for dispensing uniform lengths of pressure sensitive adhesive tape, such pads are somewhat cumbersome to use in those situations where only one hand is available for dispensing the tape, such as gift wrapping.
A significant advance in the construction and dispensing of pads of adhesive tape strips is disclosed in the Blackwell et al. patents, U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,401,547 and 5,607,737. The Blackwell et al. patents disclose a pad of superimposed adhesive tape strips wherein the adhesive layer of each tape strip is releasably adhered to an adjacent tape strip at a first adhesion level at a first end and a second adhesion level at a second end (i.e., differential release), and sequential tape strips are longitudinally reversed so as to align the first end of each tape strip with the second end of an immediately overlaying and an immediately underlying tape strip. Such an alternately stacked pad of differential release tape strips can be conveniently dispensed from an associated dispenser with a single hand while maintaining a continuous coating of a pressure sensitive adhesive on the substrate.
A variety of dispensers have been developed for dispensing individual tape strips from such pads of adhesive tape strips. Exemplary dispensers are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,086,946; 5,518,144; 5,299,712; 5,358,141; 5,755,356; 348,690; 348,484; 359,513; 387,806 and PCT Publication WO 97/48561. Such dispensers include (i) disposable and refillable dispensers, (ii) high volume/high profile and low volume/low profile dispensers, and (iii) hand held and mountable dispensers.
While the various dispensers available for pads of adhesive tape strips provide certain benefits for certain applications, a need continues to exist for an inexpensive, closeable and portable dispenser capable of being quickly and easily refilled, and capable of holding a high volume of tape strips while maintaining a modest profile consistent with portability.